Africa Word Search Printable

A free printable African word search: 16 words, from Cairo to Kilimanjaro, with New puzzle and an answer key.

Name Date

Africa Word Search

Find every word hidden in the grid. Words go across and down.

0 of 16 words found

SLYQNHDNJUFOTVO

OATUOYJZEBRATON

UKALAHARIAZYEMD

TEOUUHYNQSEVFCA

HVVICTORIAFALLS

AIVKILIMANJAROG

FCGFIYKAWIWPHLA

RTOSERENGETISID

IORLGENNIGERIAE

CRIEYUYVXSTETYI

AILMPTANZANIAYM

BALUTSLTNPCAIRO

ZBARAGWNIASHLRE

SAHARAHSLOACRJN

LKIDJAPYEMADYBB

This grid is wider and taller than its box. Slide it to see every letter.To drag, hold the first letter for a moment, then slide.Keyboard: Tab to the grid, arrow keys to move, Enter on the first and last letter.

EgyptEGYPT
CairoCAIRO
NigeriaNIGERIA
KenyaKENYA
TanzaniaTANZANIA
South AfricaSOUTH AFRICA
NileNILE
Lake VictoriaLAKE VICTORIA
Victoria FallsVICTORIA FALLS
SaharaSAHARA
KalahariKALAHARI
KilimanjaroKILIMANJARO
ZebraZEBRA
GorillaGORILLA
LemurLEMUR
SerengetiSERENGETI

16 of 28 words from the Africa Favorites list.

Start from a list

Easy: words go across and down.

More options

Show clues, not words

Word list

Large print Lower-case letters Name and date line on paper

The puzzle changes as you go. See the puzzle

Answer key: Africa Word Search

SLYQNHDNJUFOTVO

OATUOYJZEBRATON

UKALAHARIAZYEMD

TEOUUHYNQSEVFCA

HVVICTORIAFALLS

AIVKILIMANJAROG

FCGFIYKAWIWPHLA

RTOSERENGETISID

IORLGENNIGERIAE

CRIEYUYVXSTETYI

AILMPTANZANIAYM

BALUTSLTNPCAIRO

ZBARAGWNIASHLRE

SAHARAHSLOACRJN

LKIDJAPYEMADYBB

EGYPT, CAIRO, NIGERIA, KENYA, TANZANIA, SOUTH AFRICA, NILE, LAKE VICTORIA, VICTORIA FALLS, SAHARA, KALAHARI, KILIMANJARO, ZEBRA, GORILLA, LEMUR, SERENGETI

Next step Practice landform words in the geography word search Make a word search from the countries your class is studying

All 232 words

North Africa 25

Alexandria Egyptian port on the Mediterranean, founded by and named for a Macedonian conqueror.
Algeria Largest country in Africa, mostly Sahara, with its capital Algiers on the Mediterranean.
Algiers Capital of Algeria, a port city on the Mediterranean.
Aswan Egyptian city on the Nile beside a huge dam.
Atlas Mountain range that runs through Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
Cairo Capital of Egypt, a huge city on the Nile near the pyramids.
Carthage Ancient city whose ruins lie beside the capital of Tunisia.
Casablanca Atlantic port city of Morocco whose Spanish name means white house.
Egypt Country on the Nile where the pyramids of Giza stand; its capital is Cairo.
Fez Moroccan city with a walled old town of narrow lanes.
Giza City beside Cairo with the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx.
Khartoum Capital of Sudan, where the Blue and White Nile meet.
Libya Mediterranean country between Egypt and Tunisia, almost all desert; its capital is Tripoli.
Luxor Egyptian city on the Nile among ancient temples.
Maghreb Arabic name for the northwest of the continent, meaning the west.
Marrakesh Moroccan city of red walls near the Atlas, known for its busy main square and markets.

Show all 232 words (216 more)

North Africa, continued

Morocco Kingdom in the northwest corner of the continent, facing Spain across a narrow strait; its capital is Rabat.
Nubia Region along the Nile in southern Egypt and northern Sudan.
Rabat Capital of Morocco, on the Atlantic coast.
Sinai Peninsula of Egypt that forms a land bridge to Asia.
Sudan Country south of Egypt where the pyramids of the old kingdom of Kush stand at Meroe.
Suez Canal Waterway through Egypt that links the Mediterranean with the Red Sea.
Tripoli Capital of Libya, on the Mediterranean coast.
Tuareg Berber-speaking people of the Sahara, traditionally nomadic herders and traders.
Tunisia Mediterranean country that holds the northern tip of the continent and the ruins of Carthage.

West Africa 26

Abidjan Lagoon port that is the economic center of Ivory Coast.
Abuja Planned city in the center of Nigeria, built to be the capital.
Accra Capital of Ghana, on the Gulf of Guinea.
Bamako Capital of Mali, spread along both banks of the Niger.
Benin Narrow country between Togo and Nigeria; its capital is Porto-Novo, though the government works from Cotonou.
Bissau Capital of the small coastal country that adds this name to Guinea.
Burkina Faso Inland country once called Upper Volta, governed from Ouagadougou.
Cape Verde Island country in the Atlantic off Senegal whose official name is in Portuguese; its capital is Praia.
Dakar Capital of Senegal, on the Cap-Vert peninsula.
Freetown Capital of Sierra Leone, on a natural harbor.
Gambia Smallest country on the mainland of the continent, a thin strip along a river inside Senegal.
Ghana Country on the Gulf of Guinea, once called the Gold Coast; its capital is Accra.
Guinea Country on the Atlantic where the Niger River rises; its capital is Conakry.
Harmattan Dry, dusty wind that blows from the Sahara over West Africa in winter.
Ivory Coast Country west of Ghana, officially Côte d'Ivoire, a leading grower of cocoa beans.
Lagos Huge port city of Nigeria built around a lagoon; it was the capital before Abuja.
Liberia Country founded by freed people from the United States; its capital, Monrovia, is named for a president.
Mali Landlocked country of the Niger River bend, home of Timbuktu; its capital is Bamako.
Mauritania Mostly desert country on the Atlantic, north of Senegal; its capital is Nouakchott.
Monrovia Capital of Liberia, on the Atlantic coast.
Niamey Capital of Niger, on the river that gives the country its name.
Nigeria Country on the Gulf of Guinea whose big cities include Lagos, Kano and Ibadan; its capital is Abuja.
Senegal Country whose capital, Dakar, stands on a peninsula at the western tip of the mainland.
Sierra Leone Atlantic country whose capital is Freetown; its name means lion mountains.
Timbuktu City in Mali near the Niger River, a famous center of trade and learning on the edge of the Sahara.
Togo Narrow strip of a country between Ghana and Benin; its capital is Lomé.

East Africa 26

Addis Ababa Capital of Ethiopia and seat of the African Union.
Burundi Small country on Lake Tanganyika; its political capital is Gitega.
Comoros Island country between Mozambique and Madagascar; its capital is Moroni.
Dar es Salaam Main port of Tanzania, on the Indian Ocean; it was the capital before Dodoma.
Djibouti Small country at the mouth of the Red Sea whose capital has the same name.
Eritrea Red Sea country that separated from Ethiopia in 1993; its capital is Asmara.
Ethiopia Mountainous land with its own script and calendar, where the Blue Nile begins.
Kampala Capital of Uganda, near Lake Victoria.
Kenya Country on the Equator famous for wildlife parks; its capital is Nairobi.
Kigali Capital of Rwanda, spread over green hills.
Madagascar Largest island of Africa, home of lemurs and baobabs, governed from Antananarivo.
Malawi Narrow country along a long lake of the same name; its capital is Lilongwe.
Mauritius Island country in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar; its capital is Port Louis.
Mogadishu Capital of Somalia, on the Indian Ocean.
Mombasa Kenyan port city on the Indian Ocean.
Mozambique Long coastal land where the Zambezi and Limpopo reach the sea; Portuguese is its official language.
Nairobi Capital of Kenya, where giraffes graze in a reserve within sight of the city towers.
Rwanda Small, hilly country known for mountain gorillas; its capital is Kigali.
Seychelles Smallest country in Africa, an archipelago of granite and coral isles northeast of Madagascar.
Somalia Country on the Horn of Africa's tip, governed from Mogadishu.
South Sudan Landlocked country on the White Nile that became independent in 2011; its capital is Juba.
Tanzania Country of Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti and Zanzibar; its capital is Dodoma.
Uganda Country on the north shore of Lake Victoria; its capital is Kampala.
Zambia Landlocked country that shares Victoria Falls with Zimbabwe; its capital is Lusaka.
Zanzibar Tanzanian islands in the Indian Ocean known for spices.
Zimbabwe Landlocked country named for a ruined city of mortarless stone walls; its capital is Harare.

Central and Southern Africa 23

Angola Portuguese-speaking country on the Atlantic; its capital is Luanda.
Bangui Riverside city on the Ubangi, seat of the landlocked republic at the heart of the continent.
Botswana Landlocked country of the Kalahari and the Okavango Delta; its capital is Gaborone.
Brazzaville City named for an Italian-born French explorer, facing Kinshasa from the north bank.
Cameroon Country on the Gulf of Guinea with a tall volcano near the coast; its capital is Yaoundé.
Cape Town City below Table Mountain where the parliament of its country sits.
Chad Landlocked country named for a shallow lake on its western border; its capital is N'Djamena.
Congo Name shared by neighboring republics whose capitals face each other across a great river.
Durban Port on the Indian Ocean in KwaZulu-Natal.
Eswatini Small kingdom beside Mozambique, formerly called Swaziland.
Gabon Forested country on the Equator and the Atlantic; its capital is Libreville.
Gaborone Capital of Botswana, near its southeastern border.
Johannesburg City that grew from a gold rush on the Witwatersrand.
Kinshasa Capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the south bank of the river.
Lesotho Mountain kingdom completely surrounded by a single neighbor; its capital is Maseru.
Libreville Capital of Gabon, founded as a settlement of freed captives.
Luanda Capital of Angola, a port on the Atlantic.
Malabo Capital of Equatorial Guinea, on the island of Bioko.
Namibia Dry country on the Atlantic that became independent in 1990; its capital is Windhoek.
Pretoria City of jacaranda trees whose Union Buildings house the national government.
São Tomé Island on the Equator that forms a country with its neighbor Príncipe; also the name of the capital.
South Africa Country at the tip of the continent with separate capitals for its government, parliament and top court.
Windhoek Capital of Namibia, in the central highlands.

Africa Rivers, Lakes and Deserts 28

Cape Agulhas Southernmost point of Africa, where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet.
Congo River Waterway of the central rainforest that carries more water than any other in Africa.
Drakensberg Great escarpment of South Africa and Lesotho.
Equator Imaginary line around the middle of Earth that crosses the continent near Lake Victoria.
Good Hope Name of the rocky cape near the southwestern tip of the continent.
Gulf of Guinea Wide bay of the Atlantic along the coast of West Africa.
Kalahari Sandy semi-desert that covers much of Botswana.
Kilimanjaro Highest mountain in Africa, rising alone above the plains near the Kenyan border.
Lake Chad Shallow, shrinking water body on the edge of the Sahara, shared by Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and a country named for it.
Lake Malawi Long Rift Valley water body also called Nyasa, full of colorful cichlid fish.
Lake Turkana Desert water body in northern Kenya, nicknamed the Jade Sea.
Lake Victoria Largest body of fresh water in Africa, shared by Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
Limpopo River that curves around the north of South Africa to reach the sea in Mozambique.
Mount Kenya Old volcano close to the Equator with glaciers near its top.
Namib Coastal desert of towering dunes along the Atlantic.
Niger River of West Africa that flows in a great arc to the Gulf of Guinea; a country takes its name.
Nile Longest river in Africa, flowing north from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean.
Okavango River that ends in a vast inland delta in Botswana instead of reaching the sea.
Orange River Waterway that crosses South Africa from the Drakensberg to the Atlantic.
Red Sea Narrow arm of the ocean that separates the northeast of the continent from Arabia.
Rift Valley Long chain of trenches and lakes where East Africa is slowly pulling apart.
Rwenzori Snowy range on the Uganda border, sometimes called the Mountains of the Moon.
Sahara Largest hot desert on Earth, stretching across the north of the continent.
Sahel Belt of dry grassland along the southern edge of the Sahara.
Tanganyika Long, deep lake in the Rift Valley between Tanzania and the DR Congo.
Victoria Falls Thundering curtain of water on the Zambezi between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Volta River of Ghana held back by the Akosombo Dam to form a vast lake.
Zambezi River of the south that plunges over Victoria Falls on its way to the Indian Ocean.

African Animals 29

Aardvark Night digger with a long snout that eats ants and termites.
Aye-aye Night lemur of Madagascar that taps on wood and hooks out grubs with a long thin finger.
Bonobo Great ape that lives south of the Congo River.
Bushbaby Small night primate with huge eyes that leaps between branches.
Cheetah Slim spotted cat that outsprints gazelles over short distances.
Chimpanzee Great ape of the forests that uses sticks and stones as tools.
Crocodile Big reptile of the Nile and other rivers that basks on sandbanks.
Dik-dik Tiny antelope of East African bush named for its alarm call.
Elephant Giant of the savanna and forest with huge ears, a trunk and ivory tusks.
Fossa Cat-like hunter of Madagascar that preys on lemurs.
Gazelle Small, swift antelope of the dry plains; the Thomson's kind is common on the Serengeti.
Giraffe Long-necked browser that feeds on acacia leaves.
Gorilla Great ape of the central forests; the mountain kind lives on the Virunga volcanoes.
Guineafowl Plump, spotted ground bird with a bare, helmeted head.
Hippopotamus Barrel-shaped river dweller whose Greek name means river horse.
Hyena Hunter and scavenger with a laughing call.
Hyrax Small, furry rock dweller that is a distant relative of the elephant.
Kudu Antelope with tall spiral horns.
Lemur Wide-eyed tree dweller of Madagascar, a relative of monkeys and apes.
Leopard Rosette-patterned cat that rests on branches and hunts by night.
Lion Big cat that lives in prides on the savanna.
Mamba Fast, slender venomous snake.
Meerkat Small mongoose of the Kalahari that stands upright to keep watch.
Rhinoceros Thick-skinned grazer with horns on its nose; Africa has a black kind and a white kind.
Secretary Bird Long-legged raptor that stalks the grassland and stamps on snakes.
Springbok Antelope that bounces stiff-legged; the national animal of South Africa.
Termite Insect that builds tall mounds of hardened mud on the savanna.
Wildebeest Bearded antelope that migrates in vast herds across the Serengeti.
Zebra Striped grazer that travels the plains alongside wildebeest.

Languages of Africa 26

Afrikaans South African language that grew out of Dutch.
Akan Language of Ghana that includes the Twi and Fante forms.
Amharic Working language of the federal government of Ethiopia, written in its own script.
Arabic Language of North Africa from Morocco to Egypt and Sudan.
Bambara Language spoken widely in Mali.
Bantu Large family of related languages spoken across central, eastern and southern Africa.
Berber Family of languages native to North Africa, also called Amazigh.
Fula Language of herding peoples spread across the Sahel from Senegal to Sudan.
Hausa Language of northern Nigeria and Niger, used widely for trade across West Africa.
Igbo Language of southeastern Nigeria.
Kikuyu Bantu language of central Kenya.
Kinyarwanda Bantu language of Rwanda.
Lingala Bantu language of the Congo River, spoken in Kinshasa and Brazzaville.
Luganda Bantu language spoken around Kampala in Uganda.
Malagasy Language of Madagascar, related to tongues of island Southeast Asia.
Oromo Cushitic language spoken widely in Ethiopia and northern Kenya.
Sesotho Language of Lesotho and parts of South Africa.
Setswana Language of Botswana.
Shona Bantu language spoken widely in Zimbabwe.
Somali Cushitic language of the Horn of Africa.
Swahili Tongue that grew up in the trading towns of the Indian Ocean shore and borrowed many Arabic words.
Tigrinya Language of Eritrea and northern Ethiopia.
Wolof Language spoken widely in Senegal and Gambia.
Xhosa South African language known for its click consonants.
Yoruba Language of southwestern Nigeria and Benin.
Zulu Bantu language of eastern South Africa.

African Food, Music and Crafts 27

Acacia Thorny, flat-topped tree of the savanna.
Balafon West African xylophone with gourd resonators.
Baobab Thick-trunked tree of the savanna that stores water.
Calabash Dried gourd used as a bowl, bottle or instrument.
Cassava Starchy root crop that feeds much of tropical Africa.
Cocoa Bean that is made into chocolate; Ivory Coast and Ghana grow huge crops.
Couscous Steamed granules of semolina, a staple of the Maghreb.
Dhow Sailing vessel with a slanting triangular sail used along the East African coast.
Djembe Goblet-shaped hand drum from West Africa.
Fufu Soft dough of pounded cassava, yam or plantain eaten with soup.
Griot West African storyteller and praise singer who keeps oral history.
Injera Spongy flatbread of Ethiopia and Eritrea made from teff.
Jollof Spicy tomato rice dish of West Africa.
Kente Handwoven cloth of bright strips from Ghana.
Kora Harp-lute of West Africa with a gourd body.
Mancala Family of board games played by moving seeds or stones around rows of pits.
Mbira Thumb piano of Zimbabwe with metal keys on a wooden board.
Millet Small-grained cereal grown in the dry Sahel.
Mud Cloth Cotton fabric from Mali dyed with fermented mud, also called bogolan.
Papyrus Tall reed of the Nile from which ancient paper was made.
Plantain Starchy cooking banana.
Safari Journey to watch wildlife; the word comes from Swahili.
Shea Savanna tree whose nuts give a butter used in cooking and skin cream.
Sorghum Drought-hardy cereal native to Africa.
Tagine Slow-cooked North African stew named for its cone-lidded clay pot.
Talking Drum Hourglass-shaped instrument whose pitch changes when the player squeezes its cords.
Teff Tiny grain of Ethiopia.

Africa Parks and Landmarks 22

Abu Simbel Rock-cut temples in southern Egypt, moved to higher ground when a dam flooded the valley.
Aksum Ethiopian town with tall carved stone pillars from an ancient kingdom.
Amboseli Kenyan park with views of Kilimanjaro.
Bwindi Ugandan forest park that shelters mountain gorillas.
Chobe Botswana national park known for large elephant herds.
Djenné Town in Mali with a huge mosque of mud brick.
Etosha Namibian park around a huge salt pan.
Kariba Name of a big dam and lake on the Zambezi.
Kruger Name of a vast wildlife reserve in the northeast of South Africa, along the Mozambique border.
Lalibela Ethiopian town whose churches were cut downward out of the bedrock.
Masai Mara Kenyan reserve that adjoins the Serengeti.
Ngorongoro Huge volcanic crater in Tanzania filled with wildlife.
Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania where very early human fossils and tools were found.
Pyramid Monument with a square footprint rising to a point; Egypt and Sudan both have fields of them.
Robben Island Isle off Cape Town, now a museum, where Nelson Mandela was held prisoner.
Serengeti Tanzanian national park of vast plains crossed by migrating herds.
Sphinx Colossal reclining figure, part big cat and part king, that guards the Giza plateau.
Stone Town Old quarter of Zanzibar City with carved wooden doors.
Table Mountain Flat-topped landmark above Cape Town.
Tibesti Volcanic mountains in the Sahara, in northern Chad.
Tsavo Name of a pair of Kenyan parks known for red-dusted elephants.
Virunga Name of a chain of volcanoes and a national park that shelters mountain gorillas.

How this list was compiled: Own work. Words and names about the continent of Africa, chosen and described for children: nine themed lists (North Africa, West Africa, East Africa, Central and Southern Africa, rivers, lakes and deserts, animals, languages, food, music and crafts, parks and landmarks), Africa Favorites, an easy list of every word of 3 to 5 letters and a hard list of every word of 8 letters or more. The four regional lists hold the 54 member states of the United Nations in Africa: 49 by name (Congo stands for both republics of that name) and five by their capitals, because Niger sits inside Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau holds Guinea, and Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic and São Tomé and Príncipe are longer than the 14 letters an entry may have. The grid keeps only the letters A to Z, so São Tomé is hidden as SAOTOME. The regional lists follow the regions of the United Nations Statistics Division, with Middle and Southern Africa in one list, so Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique are under East Africa and Sudan is under North Africa. Inside one list no word sits inside another, forwards or backwards. Clues are our own wording; no clue repeats a word of four letters or more from its own entry. Territories whose status is disputed are not listed. Countries, capitals, places, animals and languages were checked on 3 October 2026 against the English Wikipedia article Africa and the article for each entry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa, license CC BY-SA 4.0). The records and dates (largest and smallest country, highest mountain, longest river, largest lake and island, the Sahara, the capes, the years 1990, 1993 and 2011) were checked the same day in a second work, Store norske leksikon (https://snl.no/Afrika). Where no second work gave a figure or a record, the clue leaves it out. An educational puzzle, not an official list; check an official source before you rely on a fact. Licence: own work

How it works

This Africa word search opens with Egypt, Nigeria, Sahara, Serengeti and 12 more favorites. Start from a list holds nine themed lists: four regions of countries and cities, then rivers and deserts, animals, languages, crafts and parks.

Read the full guide

All 54 countries, five of them by their capitals

The four regional lists name the countries. Five cannot be entries: Niger sits inside Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau holds Guinea, and Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic and São Tomé and Príncipe pass 14 letters. Find them through Niamey, Bissau, Malabo, Bangui and São Tomé. Congo stands for both republics, and Niger is in the rivers list.

A geography quiz from the clues

Tick Show clues, not words, on Africa Rivers, Lakes and Deserts. Pupils work out Kilimanjaro from "Highest mountain in Africa, rising alone above the plains near the Kenyan border" and then hunt for it.

Easy Africa has every word of 3 to 5 letters, such as Chad, Mali, Togo, Kenya, Nile, Lion, Zebra and Zulu.
The grid drops accents and spaces: São Tomé hides as SAOTOME and Dar es Salaam as DARESSALAAM.

Questions and answers

Is there a geography of Africa word search printable by region?

Yes. Under Start from a list, pick North Africa, West Africa, East Africa or Central and Southern Africa for the countries and main cities of one region, or Africa Rivers, Lakes and Deserts for the Nile, Sahara, Kalahari and Kilimanjaro.

Which African animals are in the puzzle?

African Animals has Lion, Elephant, Giraffe, Zebra, Hippopotamus, Rhinoceros, Cheetah, Leopard, Gorilla and Chimpanzee, and less familiar ones such as Dik-dik, Hyrax, Bushbaby, Aye-aye and Fossa, the last two from Madagascar.

What African languages does it list?

Languages of Africa has Swahili, Arabic, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Amharic, Oromo, Zulu, Xhosa, Somali, Wolof, Shona, Afrikaans and more, each clued by where it is spoken. Bantu and Berber are there as language families.

Does the Africa word search print with an answer key?

Yes. Press Print or save as PDF: the puzzle prints with a Name and Date line and the answer key follows on its own page. Press New puzzle first to give each group a different grid.

All 232 words

North Africa 25

North Africa, continued

West Africa 26

East Africa 26

Central and Southern Africa 23

Africa Rivers, Lakes and Deserts 28

African Animals 29

Languages of Africa 26

African Food, Music and Crafts 27

Africa Parks and Landmarks 22

How it works

All 54 countries, five of them by their capitals

A geography quiz from the clues

Questions and answers

More tools